16 FEBRUARY 1907, Page 24

A very useful work has been accomplished in A History

of Greece, by George Grote, Condensed and Edited by J. M. Mitchell, RA., and H. 0. B. Caspari, M.A. (G. Routledy,e and Pons, 55. net). The period has been contracted by leaving out the mythical and early historical portions on the one hand, and, on the other, all that follows the Fall of Athens. The editors give good reasons for these and the other omissions. The whole aspect of our knowledge of prehistoric Greece has been totally changed by the explorations and discoveries of the last thirty years (Grote died in 1871). An account of this period in which there is no mention of the Mycenaean civilisation is clearly obsolete. In history and topography much has been added to our knowledge since the historian's death. Then there were subjects on which Grote was prejudiced. Here, again, something has been retrenched. The result is a volume which promises to be of great use.